1871.] 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



633 



about the same proportion means are used to 

 exterminate him. 



In winter, boys are encouraged to destroy 

 the house sparrow by any means they can ; in 

 spring and summer they take the young from 

 their nests, as many sometimes as a hundred 

 from the eaves of a single house, cut off their 

 heads and take them to the Church Wardens 

 of the parish ; these officers have corporate 

 power over the temporal concerns of the sec- 

 tions in England called parishes, and as a re- 

 ward for the industry of th'? boys they give 

 them one farthing per head. 



In the southwest of England the gardener 

 spades up his land in February, and the birds 

 become useful in eating insects, just as they 

 had been in the fall and winter in eating the 

 seeds of weeds. In March the gardener and 

 farmer begin to pay for services rendered. By 

 this time wheat is above ground ; by the twenty- 

 fourth day onions, carrots, parsnips and let- 

 tuce seed have been sown ; as early as Febru- 

 ary, on southern borders protected on the 

 north, potatoes were planted in drills, radishes 

 were sown broadcast over them and straw put 

 on to protect all ; this being removed by day, 

 forwards the radishes, and in i\Iarch the spar- 

 rows are as busy with them as they are with 

 the wheat now just above ground ; and now for 

 the farm and garden boys, from early morn 

 till dark, in the dry, bleak wind of March 

 which chaps the hands and face until the blood 

 is seen on the surface of both ; in father's old 

 coat with sleeves rolled up and tippet around 

 the neck, with cap drawn down over the eyes, 

 he continues to clap, clap, clap with his wood- 

 en clappers, and hoarse with continued vocal 

 performance he cries perpetually " Holloa, 

 holloa there, I will with my clappers, knock 

 you down backwards, for stealing my master's 

 corn." 



Now it is that the poor boy gets sixty cents 

 per week for his vigilance in preventing the 

 poor sparrow from taking his pay for eating 

 up insects and the seeds of weeds, and the war 

 goes on ; the sparrow is industrious in his 

 work of self preservation, the farmer and 

 gardener equally so disposed, and in the end 

 each lives by effort and dies in good time to 

 relinquish the strife which for ages has been 

 bequeathed from father to son ; but who can 

 demonstrate that the sparrows devour of good 

 seed and fruit equal to what they save by de- 

 stroying injurious seeds and insects ? 



Poor house sparrow ! His constantly excited 

 chirp, chirp, chirp ; his noisy quarrels and 

 pugnacious disposition make him disliked, 

 and his voracity and fruitfulness make him in 

 spring and summer a pest to the farmer and 

 gardener ; but in fall and winter, in a general 

 sense, he is a great blessing, the balance is 

 certainly in his favor. But as "the dog that 

 gets a bad name seldom loses it," so the spar- 

 row is hated by the force of tradition and 

 prejudice, while the other varieties of small 

 birds, because of their retiring habits, their 



plumage or their song, are general favorites ; 

 but remember, they all live by destroying in- 

 sects, seeds and fruit. Johx Fleming. 

 Sherborn, Mass., Sept., 1871. 



FABM KOADS. 



Every farm of considerable size, if compact 

 in form, should have a substantial road 

 through it. This should be so arranged as to 

 afford access to most of the cultivated fields, 

 and to the pastures. It should be of sufficient 

 width to enable a team to turn into, or out of, 

 with a load of hay. The gates or bars open- 

 ing to the fields should be strong, so as to 

 allow the cattle to be turned into the road 

 directly from the barn-yard. In this case the 

 road becomes a part of the pasture. 



It would be economical to remove the sur- 

 face of this road, and replace with coarse 

 gravel at the bottom, and screened gravel at 

 the top. When thoroughly rolled, with a 

 very heavy roller, it would probably resist the 

 action of wheels, so as to leave quite a smooth 

 and easily travelled road. 



If some portions of the way are of a soft 

 and swampy character, it would be well to 

 take off the surface until a firm bottom is 

 reached, and then fill up to within six or eight 

 inches of the top, with some of the stones that 

 are in the way on the farm. If on a farm 

 where stones do not abound, fill with old 

 timber, coarse brush, plank, or anything 

 which will prevent the gravel from sinking, 

 then fill with sand, gravel, or whatever can be 

 obtained at least cost, that will best meet the 

 purposes desired. 



For want of such a road, we have seen 

 farms greatly disfigured. Othei-wise beauti- 

 ful fields were cut into unsightly ruts, and the 

 cost of mowing and raking them nearly 

 doubled in consequence of their existence. 

 When it becomes necessary to re-seed such 

 fields, the furrows are broken every time the 

 plough passes over the ruts, and the places 

 can only be made level and smooth by hand, 

 with hoe or spade. If the land is to be 

 planted and cultivated before seeding to grass, 

 it is not of so much consequence ; but still, 

 the neat workman will be annoyed by the 

 slovenly appearance of the field. 



A good road passing through the farm is 

 greatly needed in the spring. The ground is 

 then soft, and the teaming to be done of the 

 heaviest kind. Very few farmers appreciate 



